There are a few values that are very important to us at Autoimmune Wellness. Authenticity, openness, and supportiveness are among those values. And when it comes to the Autoimmune Protocol, we’ve thought a lot about how these values intersect, after all they can mean the difference between those seeking healing finding a place in our community or not. More and more our mission is emphasizing these values as we seek to bring the potential of autoimmune healing to a diverse, global audience.
Autoimmune disease does not discriminate and thankfully neither does AIP. AIP can work for anyone regardless of culture, religion, ethnicity, or nationality. However, our food traditions are often tied to our cultures, religions, ethnicity, or nationality, and those ties can be very strong. It can feel like choosing AIP means giving up an authentic self. If we as a community don’t appear to be open enough or supportive enough to these backgrounds with their unique food traditions, it might mean folks we would love to have join our movement and experience the benefits of AIP, never consider it for fear of losing touch with that authenticity.
We are beginning the “Diversity in AIP” series to showcase the wide variety of people from different backgrounds that are already using AIP to heal. We know that many of you are utilizing AIP in your autoimmune journey and doing it creatively, in a way that still honors important parts of your backgrounds. We want to share your stories to encourage more folks of similar backgrounds to join our Autoimmune Wellness movement. Presenting how Muslims, Jews, Indians, Mexicans, African-Americans, and others are making AIP work for them can inspire the community as a whole about our growing reach. More importantly it can inspire those, who would otherwise be held back based on food traditions, to take the AIP leap. Showing others that AIP is a template which can be adapted can free them to find that missing piece in their own healing.
With that mission defined, we want to talk to you!
- Are you Russian and figuring out how to make AIP work in your kitchen?
- African-American and adapting recipes to AIP or discovering wisdom in traditional foods?
- Muslim and navigating AIP with your halal butcher?
- Mexican or Indian and figuring out how to cut nightshades, while still enjoying familiar foods?
- Maybe you’re French and gave up baguettes, but discovered something new about French cuisine on AIP?
We want to share your story of navigating AIP while honoring your cultural, religious, ethnic, or national background here on the Autoimmune Wellness blog!
If you are interested in sharing your story, please let us know by filling out this form. And THANK YOU for being a part of the global AIP movement! Your example is showing others that healing is possible!
4 comments
A bit different maybe, but I would love to see things like this for us simple, country, southern cooks! I loved your book Autoimmune Wellness Handbook, but the fancy, gourmet type recipes were very inaccessible for this simple country cool. I have expanded my pallatte a LOT and some of that is necessary for the program. I have also adapted a lot of meals on my own, but but I would still love more ideas that are accessible to me as such.
Crystal-
The Deep South definitely qualifies as having a unique cultural identity. We’d love to hear from you. Submit your thoughts w/ this form: https://trescottllc.formstack.com/forms/diversity
Thank you!
You will probably find many African American and Southern recipes would likely dovetail and/or overlap, just by virtue of the historical origins of African Americans having geographically Southern roots.
Also within the African diaspora you will find Caribbean and African continental cuisines (e.g. West Africa, etc.).
It will be interesting to see what people offer up. Thank you for spearheading this project.
Owl Mom-
That’s what I’m hoping for! It will be great to see that overlap & those roots. I’m excited about the project & what it will reveal about diversity in healing w/ AIP!